News and citizen. [volume] (Morrisville, Vt. ;) 1881-current, 1887-03-31
THE MURDERERS' BRAND.
Tennessee Neighborheod Infested by a
Mysterious Band of Thugs.
[From the Memphis Avalanche

[From the Memphis Avalanche.l
One of the most singular and mysteri-
Gus condolences in the history of crime
is the fact that all the murders and
would-be murders that have been COM
mitted in that locality during the last
ten years have borne the sometimes dis
tinct and sometimes indistinct mark of
being similar to each other III regard to
certain characteristics which have been
unmistakably branded upon the bodies
of the victims. There is the appearance
of profound purpose, and there is no
evidence to the contrary which has been
exercised by those barhi:rious assassins
against unOtfending citizens, including
both men and women, and these coinei-
dences have occurred an1 c1n now be
traced back 10 as lsg as twelve
years ao3. when q Gonlriy Widow OF mid
die age was foully murdered in the bed
room of her own house in this same 10
cality.
This woman was Mrs Foster, whose
husband had died short time previous
ly, and who had rented out her place in
town to live in more quiet neighbor-
hood, which she sought out on this road.
There was no one in the house that night
except herself; negro woman had been
staying there but for some reason, which
was never fully explained, she was not
at the house that night, but had gone to
spend the evening with another negro
woman who was a friend of hers. This
lady, who was an estlmable woman in
every respect, could not be suspected of
having an enemy. 1t is further true
that there were evidences that the crime
had been committed solely for the pur-
pose of robbery. and yet the same mark
which has been borne upon the bodies
of other victims which have fallen since
that time, and which was a distinctive
feature of the attempted wholesale
murder of the Majors family, was
found upon her head when the llfeless
body was found the next morning.
1t was only few years after this oc-
currence that another lady in the same
vicinity was shot through the heart and
instantly killed, and yet the same mark
ir the shape of the lete V was found
branded upon her skull 1t had to all
appearances, too, been done after the
shot had been fired and after the woman
had died, for she could not have lived
more than a moment after having been
shot, and the fact that the mysterious
brand was still upon her brow furnishes
only another instance and additional
evidence that this course of crimes
might have been committed for some
purpose deeper beyond and more pro-
found than any of which the inhabitants
of that section have eyer dreamed.
Again, it was only three or four years
since that Mrs. Wright, good woman
and a Christian lady, was struck
down, apparently by the same hands.
She was shot in the breast and riddled
with bullets from shotgun, the trade
mark of the same set of human butchers
was upon her forehead. An additional
case is furnished in that of the old
huckster woman who was murdered in
her ouse in that locality during 1888
or 1884. Then may be cited one of the
most important cases, tHs assassination
of q -Justises, svbi|.t, took llIaco scarce
ly II 1liIe 1rom the riaGU y iisro Jhe nS3Ir
der was attempted Wednesday night
1t has never been found out for certain
what weapon was used in killing these
two old people, who lived quiet life in
their little shanty by the roadside, and
who were suspected of having a hoard
of wealth somewhere about the house.
he murder of the Justices occurred
about SIX months ago, and all the re-
voting details of the horrible affair are
still fresh in the minds of citizens. 1t
could not be told at the time whether
the murderers weapon had been a ham,
mer, hatchet or an axe, and no theory
ever advanced as to how they met their
sad fate, or by what instrument the deed
was done has ever proved a satisfactory
one in the eyes of curious and mystif-
ed public. There were marks upon the
bodies of these people, however, which
were either exactly like or which at
least bear a strong resemblance to those
branded upon the skulls of the Nabors
family, not one of whom escaped bear
ing the mark except the youngest baby
and the other members who were not
touched at all.
There is in all probability a vendetta
whose gang infest some portion of this
community, and whose hiding places
have never yet been discovered. If they
are negro men who carry out the cow
ardly work, and all the evidence in all
the cases says that they are, then these
brutes are very likely committing crimes
under the guidance of some more intel
uSenC beings VINO are aG tnelr neau anu
direct their movements, which have
hitherto proved so fatal to the inhabi-
tants of Pigeon Roost road, and so
mysterious to the population at large,
while the most careful investigation in
each of these cases has failed to throw
the slightest ray of light in any direc-
ton as to who the perpetrators were.
There have always been strange men in
that community, and in every instance
all parties have failed to say where they
came from or whittier they went. They
have all seemed suddenly to drop out,
to sink into the earth, and not the
slightest trace of any of the men during
these last twelve years of crime has
ever been discovered.